CANCUN HOTELS

Rey del Caribe. A beautiful eco hotel, with great staff, great prices, and beautiful garden pool, walking distance to the main drag of the city of Cancun. Rey del Caribe also has a beach club if you want to beach it, but Cancun’s beaches are not for getting in the water–they always have a ‘danger’ sign out there….  I stay here when arriving late or flying out early.

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AKUMAL, QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO

I’m reluctant to publicize this wonder place because I don’t want it to get more trammelled than it already is. But, ok, here goes.

Akumal is a beach community that has escaped the disney-fication of other, formerly beautiful places like Xcaret and Xel-Ha. Recycling water and trash, reducing energy use, and, most of all, protecting the endangered species (including turtles) and going after the invaders (e.g., lionfish), Akumal and Half Moon bay have no buildings over 3 floors, only 1 or 2 night clubs, a few restaurants. It’s so safe you don’t have to lock your doors–everyone coming into the area comes through one main gate and everyone knows everyone.

Hotels:

Vista del Mar

My favorite for price, beach front rooms and condos, service (including internet) and accessibility to restaurants and the dive shop. Prices are negotiable. Many are right on the beach. The main drawback is that the ocean right in front of the most of the rooms isn’t the best snorkeling area–better to walk up the beach a bit. The pool is a ways down the beach, between the dive shop and the restaurant, “La Buena Vida.” But who wants a pool?

Hotel Hacienda la Tortuga/La Mirage. These are very nice digs, still genteelly declining (like Vista del Mar, one of the first on Half Moon Bay). They are right in front of the best snorkeling beach, the fanciest and very good restaurant (La Lunita) is on site. There’s a nice pool right there, too. Drawbacks: price, not negotiable, no 3 bedrooms, and internet is often sketchy.

La Sirena. These units are at the far n. end of Half Moon Bay. It’s a rocky entrance to the snorkeling area, but you can get right in. The unit I stayed in didn’t have an open balcony, and the people next door had a puppy that barked all day! The pool and gardens are beautiful.

Many other places are similar, including houses for rent through various web sites (vrbo.com).

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MEXICO: how to buy gas without getting cheated (updated 13June 2011)

Gas is sold by the liter–about 3.8=1 gallon.

Most places, you never get cheated. But in Quintana Roo (CANCUN), Mexico, I’ve experienced a couple of attempts. I’ve written to the Quintana Roo State Tourism office, to no avail–perhaps they did hear me, because I bought gas on May 28 and there were two guys, one checking the amount, the other making sure I saw the $00.00 on the pump!! However, two friends had the same trick pulled on them at the first gas station coming into Tulum from Cancun: they got only about a quarter of a tank for $200 pesos (the tank fills with $200 on that little ATOS car), and then were told that they had NO oil and that it cost $150 peso per liter (really $50). Shame on you Quintana Roo.  [COMMENTS SEND TO SECTUR and Quintana Roo Secretaria de Turismo]

In many places in Mexico, you can now use VISA cards to charge gas.

1. pull in, unlock your gas tank, tell them what you want (you want the low octane, unless you’re driving a luxe car). It never hurts to say, (in English or Spanish): buenos dias/ noches.

2. get out, stand in front of your car, and check the $00.00 on the gas pump. This is where they screw you over. Once they told me, after charging me $200 pesos, that I’d asked for 20 liters.

3. get a receipt. Take a photo. Go to the office, if you have a problem.

4. I’ve only had this problem in Matehuala, SLP (once 30 years ago) and between Cancun and Akumal, QR. (twice in 2010).

5. the rest of the time, the gas pumpers are great. If they wash your windows, tip them $5 pesos. I often tip the pumper $5 pesos or so–and ask for a receipt. It never hurts to say, (in English or Spanish): ‘gracias.’

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HOTEL PRICES (MEXICO and ELSEWHERE)

Most hotels (like most colleges, car dealers, etc.) negotiate.

When you get a price, mention that you’ve been recommended by a repeat customer (or are a repeat), and ask if you can get a discount.

Once, I arrived at my hotel, HOTEL MISSION PALENQUE, in Palenque Mexico. I waited behind a couple who had just driven in from Merida. The man asked for, and got, a 10% discount off the bat.

So, I went up and said, ‘you gave him a discount, and I’m a repeat customer…?’. I got the discount, too, and realized that I always need to ask for a discount.

Nothing to lose.

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RENT A CAR IN MEXICO (updated 13 June 2011)

1. your US insurance doesn’t work
2. car rental agencies use this to bilk you–they scare you into buying extra insurance, doubling the price of your rental
3. Get coverage for everything but liability through American Express. I had to buy liability at $13/day [see http://travel.aol.com/articles/mexico-transportation-how-to-rent-a-car-on-your-vacation]
4. Get an American Express card. Add the car rental insurance coverage (they charge you $25 per rental). I don’t use this card for my US rentals, because these are covered by my US insurance.
4. When you rent a car in Mexico, print out the AMEX coverage agreement, and TAKE PICTURES OF EVERY PIECE OF THE CAR YOU RENT.
5. check that there’s a spare tire, jack, etc.
6. take an image of the gas gauge.
7. look for lights, mirrors, cigarette lighters.
8. note it all down on your contract.

I’ve used BLUEWAY in CANCUN a lot. They always want to sell me insurance, and have given me cars that don’t start (I had to get a push and return the unit). But they’re cheap and the little cars are very fuel-efficient!

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Welcome to Genteel Decline…

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